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Dec 16, 2006 5:33 pm US/Central
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Identity Theft Alive And Well In Secret Chatrooms
by Caroline Lowe
(WCCO)
There is a dangerous new underworld operating on the Internet where secret message boards and chat rooms exchange social security and credit card numbers, bank account details, even personal identity numbers, or PINS.
"It is up for sale in cyberspace right this very minute," said Dan Clemmens of Card Cops, a company that surfs these same chatrooms in order to trip up identity thieves before they have a chance to do their dirty work.
Even for the most Web savvy user, it is nearly impossible for the average person to locate these sites.
Clemmens recently showed a television news crew how easy it is. One chatroom had 426 hackers inside swapping information. One hacker with the chatroom handle "tiger" offered, what he called, a "full" for sale -- insider code for a full record on one person, which includes name, address, date of birth, credit card number and its accompanying PIN.
In the wrong hands, this information can cost its owner many thousands of dollars, as well as many headaches. But to the identity thief, this information comes cheap: A credit card number sells for $2. If it comes with a pin, as little as $10. If the seller has access to an online bank account, it could be sold for as little as two percent or as much as ten percent of its balance.
During the online search for this report, Clemmens found information belonging to Scott B. Holanda. After tracking him down, Hollanda said he thinks identity thieves obtained his information through an e-mail response that, to Hollanda, looked very legitimate.
Holanda learned his lesson the hard way. Not only do credit reporting agencies urge customers not to respond to e-mail solicitations, they also encourage people to shred financial documents and put yourself on a creditwatch through one of the three major consumer credit information services.
He later said he thinks thieves got information by answering an email that can look very real.
One can get a free copy of your report from each of the three major agencies every 12 months.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)